# Instagram Profile Scraper (`piotrv1001/instagram-profile-scraper`) Actor

Scrape public Instagram profiles by username or URL: follower count, following, post count, bio, bio links, verified and private flags, profile picture, highlights and the latest posts with likes and comments. Check Instagram followers in bulk for influencer research. No login.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/piotrv1001/instagram-profile-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [FalconScrape](https://apify.com/piotrv1001) (community)
- **Categories:** Social media, Lead generation, Automation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 1 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $1.50 / 1,000 profiles

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

### 🚀 Instagram Profile Scraper: Follower Count, Bio and Latest Posts

Look up **any public Instagram profile** by username or link and get its follower count, following count, number of posts, bio, bio links, verified and private flags, profile picture, highlights and its latest posts with likes and comments. The **Instagram Profile Scraper** checks Instagram followers for hundreds of accounts in one run, with no Instagram account or login. Use it as a bulk Instagram follower count checker, an Instagram profile lookup for influencer research, or a simple alternative to an Instagram API.

### 🎯 Use Cases

- **Instagram follower count checker**: paste a list of usernames and get followers, following and post counts for every account in one table.
- **Instagram follower tracker**: schedule a daily run on the same accounts and build your own follower growth history.
- **Influencer research and vetting**: compare audience size, verified status, posting volume and recent engagement before you reach out.
- **Engagement rate checks**: the latest posts come with their likes and comments, so you can work out an account's engagement rate next to its follower count.
- **Competitor and brand monitoring**: watch rival brands' audience size, bio changes and bio links week by week.
- **Lead lists and CRM enrichment**: add follower counts, bios and website links to a list of Instagram handles you already have.

### ✨ Features

- **Audience numbers**: followers, following and total number of posts, as plain numbers (never "1.2M" strings).
- **Profile details**: full name, bio, pronouns, verified badge, private flag, memorialized flag, Threads username and profile picture.
- **Bio links**: the main website link plus every link in the bio, with its title.
- **Highlights and reels**: whether the account has story highlights (and how many when there are 10 or fewer), reels and a story live right now.
- **Latest posts**: the most recent posts of public profiles with type, caption, likes, comments, date, image link and a pinned flag.
- **Private profiles too**: followers, following, bio and picture are public even for private accounts, and you get them.
- **Bulk and deduplicated**: hundreds of usernames per run; `nasa`, `@NASA` and `https://www.instagram.com/nasa/` count as one profile.
- **Fair billing**: profiles that don't exist or aren't public are listed in the run's status message and not charged.

### 🛠️ How It Works

1. **Enter usernames or profile URLs**: `natgeo`, `@natgeo` or `https://www.instagram.com/natgeo/`, one per line.
2. **Run the scraper**: each profile becomes one result row.
3. **Download the results** as JSON, CSV or Excel, or pull them through the API.

### ⚙️ Input

| Field                         | What it does                                                                 |
| ----------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Usernames or profile URLs** | Instagram usernames, @handles or profile links, one per line. One row each. |

```json
{
    "usernames": ["natgeo", "@nike", "https://www.instagram.com/nasa/"]
}
```

### 💰 Pricing

Pay only for the profiles you get. No monthly rental.

| Event           | Price                                    | What you get                              |
| --------------- | ---------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------- |
| **Profile**     | $0.0015 per profile ($1.50 per 1,000)    | One profile with all fields below         |
| **Actor start** | $0.00005 per run                         | Charged once when the run starts.         |

Examples: 100 profiles = $0.15 · 1,000 profiles = $1.50 · 10,000 profiles = $15.00.

Private profiles are saved and charged like public ones (they carry followers, following, bio and picture, but no post count or posts). Usernames that don't exist, deactivated accounts and accounts Instagram shows only to logged-in users are listed in the status message and not charged.

### 📊 Sample Output Data

```json
{
    "id": "787132",
    "username": "natgeo",
    "fullName": "National Geographic",
    "biography": "Step into wonder and find your inner explorer with National Geographic 🌎",
    "url": "https://www.instagram.com/natgeo/",
    "externalUrl": "http://visitstore.bio/natgeo",
    "externalUrls": [
        { "title": null, "url": "http://visitstore.bio/natgeo" },
        { "title": "Subscribe Here!", "url": "https://ngmdomsubs.nationalgeographic.com/servlet/OrdersGateway?cds_mag_code=NGM…" }
    ],
    "followers": 268325403,
    "following": 195,
    "postsCount": 32101,
    "isVerified": true,
    "isPrivate": false,
    "profilePicUrl": "https://scontent-ord5-2.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.82787-19/683576066_18653628823019133_9051036240972105113_n.jpg?…",
    "hasHighlights": true,
    "highlightReelCount": 1,
    "hasReels": true,
    "hasPublicStory": true,
    "pronouns": [],
    "threadsUsername": "natgeo",
    "isMemorialized": false,
    "fbid": "17841400573960012",
    "latestPosts": [
        {
            "id": "4011860087987910340",
            "shortcode": "Des_X6JFjbE",
            "url": "https://www.instagram.com/p/Des_X6JFjbE/",
            "type": "carousel",
            "caption": "Photographing a big cat in the wild can take months of planning, with no guarantee of getting the shot…",
            "likes": 124259,
            "comments": 143,
            "takenAt": "2026-10-21T01:00:01.000Z",
            "displayUrl": "https://scontent-atl3-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.82787-15/851782795_18710027194019133_4879192587605348944_n.jpg?…",
            "isPinned": false
        }
    ],
    "scrapedAt": "2026-10-21T14:12:40.963Z"
}
```

`id` is the account's numeric Instagram user ID (it never changes when the username does); `fbid` is the account's ID in Meta's business tools. `highlightReelCount` is `null` when an account has more than 10 highlights (`hasHighlights` is still `true`). `latestPosts` holds the most recent posts (usually 6) of public profiles and is empty for private ones.

### 🔁 Schedule and Integrate

To track follower growth, run the same list **once a day** (or once a week for large lists): every run is a dated snapshot, and together they form a follower history per account. Set it up in Apify **Schedules**. Send the rows to **Google Sheets**, **Zapier**, **Make**, **n8n** or a webhook with Apify **integrations**, so new numbers land in your reporting sheet or CRM automatically.

### 🤖 Use with AI Agents (MCP)

This Actor works as a tool in Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor and other MCP clients through the Apify MCP server (`https://mcp.apify.com`). An agent can call it with:

```json
{ "usernames": ["natgeo", "nike"] }
```

### ❓ FAQ

**Does Instagram have an official API for profile data?** Instagram's official APIs are for managing your own business or creator accounts and need a Meta developer app, a linked Facebook page and app review. Looking up other people's public profiles in bulk is not what they are for. This Actor needs no key or app and returns the public profile data anyone sees on instagram.com.

**How do I check the follower count of many Instagram accounts at once?** Paste all the usernames (or profile links) into "Usernames or profile URLs", one per line, and run the Actor. You get one row per account with `followers`, `following` and `postsCount`, ready to sort or export to Excel.

**Do I need an Instagram account or cookies?** No. The Actor works without logging in.

**Does it work for private accounts?** Partly. Followers, following, bio, bio links and profile picture are public on private profiles, so you get those. The post count and posts of a private profile are hidden and come back as `null` and `[]`.

**Why is a profile missing from my results?** The username doesn't exist, the account is deactivated, or Instagram shows it only to logged-in users. Those profiles are listed in the run's status message and not charged.

**Why is `postsCount` empty for a public profile?** A few accounts (about 4% in our tests) hide their post count and recent posts from visitors who are not logged in. Their other fields are still filled; `postsCount` is `null` and `latestPosts` is empty.

**Are business category, email or phone included?** No. Instagram does not show business contact details or categories to visitors who are not logged in, so they are not in the data.

**How do I calculate an Instagram engagement rate?** Average the `likes` plus `comments` of the profile's `latestPosts` and divide by `followers`. For a longer history, get the profile's full post list with the [Instagram Profile Posts Scraper](https://apify.com/piotrv1001/instagram-profile-posts-scraper).

### 🔗 Related Scrapers

- [Instagram Profile Posts Scraper](https://apify.com/piotrv1001/instagram-profile-posts-scraper): every post and reel of the profiles you found here, newest first.
- [Instagram Post Scraper](https://apify.com/piotrv1001/instagram-post-scraper): full details of any post or reel by URL.
- [Instagram Comments Scraper](https://apify.com/piotrv1001/instagram-comments-scraper): comments of any public post with author, likes and date.
- [Instagram Reel Transcript Scraper](https://apify.com/piotrv1001/instagram-reel-transcript-scraper): turn reels into text with timestamps.

# Actor input Schema

## `usernames` (type: `array`):

Instagram usernames, @handles or profile links (instagram.com/name), one per line. Each profile is one result.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "usernames": [
    "natgeo",
    "nike",
    "nasa"
  ]
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "usernames": [
        "natgeo",
        "nike",
        "nasa"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("piotrv1001/instagram-profile-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "usernames": [
        "natgeo",
        "nike",
        "nasa",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("piotrv1001/instagram-profile-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "usernames": [
    "natgeo",
    "nike",
    "nasa"
  ]
}' |
apify call piotrv1001/instagram-profile-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,piotrv1001/instagram-profile-scraper"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/ueGDhdnpYbn8lyXQf/builds/smOWjgCWfliqdbHDP/openapi.json